After three stages, B. Vanagas leads the FIA European Baja Cup in the “Ultimate” category. In the overall drivers’ standings, the Lithuanian is in second place with 132 points, just 16 points behind the championship leader, Portuguese Paulo Rodrigues.
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In the last stage held in Italy, B. Vanagas and A. Paliukėnas finished third in the overall standings and collected the maximum points for the FIA European Baja Cup. Therefore, in Poland, the team is looking forward not only to returning to the race rhythm but also to an important fight for championship points.
The unplanned break occurred after the “Baja España Aragón” stage was postponed due to extreme drought and fire danger, and in mid-August, the “HunGarian Baja” did not take place at the last minute due to fires near the track. In the latter case, part of the “Gurtam TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Baltics” team and equipment had already reached Hungary.
In one of Europe’s largest military training grounds
“Baja Poland” is the largest and most important off-road rally in Poland, first held in 2009. This year will see its 18th edition in history, and the competition will become part of the international FIA off-road rally calendar for the fifteenth time.
The race center will be located in Szczecin, but the main Saturday battle will take place in the Drawsko Pomorskie military training ground – one of the largest military areas of its kind in Europe.
On Saturday, athletes will complete a 149.75 km long special stage twice in the training ground. Thus, almost 300 kilometers will be covered at race pace on this day alone. The rest of the competition will take place in Szczecin and its surroundings.
In total, participants of the FIA European Baja Cup await four special stages with a total length of 351.66 km and an 8.85 km prologue. The result of the latter will not be included in the final race time but will determine the order of choosing Saturday’s starting positions.
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There will be no shortage of competition in Poland. Among the most prominent participants is a true legend of these races, Krzysztof Hołowczyc, who has won “Baja Poland” ten times, including a victory in 2025. Dakar medalist and one of the most versatile modern motorsport drivers, Mattias Ekström, will also join the fight.
Another interesting name is Latvian rally star Mārtiņš Sesks. The Latvian, who has already demonstrated his speed in the highest WRC category, will debut in a rally raid in Poland, starting with a T3 class “VIKING CHALLENGER” buggy developed in Latvia.
“After Italy, we were supposed to start in Spain, then Hungary, but both stages did not take place due to circumstances beyond our control. Therefore, the most important thing now is to switch back to race mode. We are leading in the “Ultimate” category, we are second in the overall standings and have 16 points behind the leader. However, championship mathematics is important at the finish. The Polish training ground is fast, specific, and unforgiving of mistakes, so first of all, we have to do our job well,” says Benediktas Vanagas.
“Baja Poland” is also another stage of preparation for B. Vanagas and A. Paliukėnas for the main goal of the season. B. Vanagas has finished eighth in the car category of the Dakar Rally – this is the highest result achieved by Baltic athletes in this category. The Polish special stages will allow the crew to continue accumulating sporting kilometers with the “Toyota GR DKR Hilux EVO T1+ Ultimate” and prepare for the upcoming Dakar.
The sporting part of “Baja Poland” will begin on Friday with an 8.85 km prologue in Szczecin. Saturday will see almost 300 km of battle in the Drawsko Pomorskie training ground, and Sunday – the remaining special stages in the vicinity of Szczecin and the finish line at “Enea Arena”.
